Falco's Theatre (pt. 3): Skirmish
I really don't have a whole lot to say about this chapter before I begin, other than the fact that it'll show where Krystal and Marcus are at. Here, we'll also learn a bit more about the man leading his pack of Lords in Lylat.
It is common belief that there is no fate worse than death…
Many beings have passed the misconception down to younger generations, guiding the less-knowledgeable souls down the path of lies made into truth…
But the truly wise know that death is not always the ultimate misfortune…
In certain situations, it would be preferable to die a quick death rather than suffer horrific amounts of pure agony…
For only the dead, in ideal conditions, have seen the end of endless suffering...
In fact, it is not uncommon for a soul severely ravaged by pain, whether physical or mental, to attempt suicide to end his or her suffering…
The fleet that was approaching the area seemed to resemble an army of black, mechanical wasps. The outer appearance of each was rooted in the Victorian-style looks of long ago, albeit mixed in with a sleeker look reminiscent of the Great Fox. The windows on the front were obscured by a thin layer of blackness, thus rendering all attempts to identify the pilot within virtually impossible, regardless if the feature was intentional or not. White streams of fire zipped out of the rear-facing exhaust ports, with the color contrasting sharply with the rest of the ship. And for the current moment, the entire group was now targeting Slippy's Arwing, which was headed for the Great Fox.
"Slippy, what are you doing?" Peppy yelped. Knowing the toad, he was likely to get the duo killed or, if luck was good enough, seriously wounded. "You're going to give Falco and his guys more trouble than they need!"
"Look, I don't wanna die, okay?" Slippy squealed. "Maybe Falco can-"
"This is Falco," an interrupting voice from the speakers muttered. "I'm heading out to assist you guys." True to his word, Falco guided his vehicle to join the upcoming battle in the skies, all while leaving behind the comfort of the larger ship. Focusing on a single hostile, the avian Smasher took aim and fired a short burst of energy beams.
ZAP!
Expected to tear through the dark hull, the beams were instead absorbed by an energy field surrounding the ship. A heavy snarl stretched itself across Falco's face as the event unraveled in a way that he had not expected. He then proceeded to direct his shots at a few more of his foes. However, as with the first ship, success would be out of his reach when the shots were absorbed by shields, energy-swallowing sponges by nature. As a frustrated grunt exited the pilot's mouth, an ominous voice echoed from the ship's communications system:
"Your energy-based attacks are ineffective against our shields…"
"Yeah, I fucking noticed!" Falco snorted. There was no need for the sinister speaker to point out the obvious. "Also, who are you?"
"I am known as Lars Isberg, and I am one of the five captains serving the magnificent Lords. It appears that you and your friends are out to prevent our savior from being resurrected, something that we will not tolerate. But I will say this; if you surrender now, I will have my forces show some mercy towards your group."
The pilot scoffed at the offer; it was clear that the man, now known as Lars, was tempting him to help the Lords, even if only through inaction. "Sorry, pal, but I ain't buyin' into your stupid deal. I'd much rather hear Slippy run his freaking mouth for all eternity than join your forces."
"I see," the man calmly replied. "Then you shall feel the punishing wrath of our forces…"
Whoosh…
With no warning to rely on, Falco immediately found himself being attacked by fast, red-colored beams from every direction possible. Evasive maneuvers were all that he could possibly perform, at least until he could pinpoint a weakness. Slippy attempted to imitate such actions, but his inferior piloting skills meant that his maneuvers were considerably less effective; in fact, his Arwing received several hard blows due to mistimed aileron rolls, among other things. On the final hit, violent shaking nearly launched the two occupants to the ship's top.
"AIEE!" Slippy squealed. "They're pounding us with their weapons!"
"Slippy," Peppy grumbled, clearly upset with the engineer's incompetence. "Get into the Great Fox. We're trading places there."
"Okay, so Falco wants us to get this ship away from the battlefield," Sonic mumbled. "And, if possible, we should blow a hole in the building's architecture."
"The cannons might be strong enough to bring down a wall," Ness puffed. "Who in here wants to take the gunner position?"
"Beep," Mister Game & Watch leaped up. "Beep beep beep."
"Okay, Game & Watch, you'll be operating the cannons."
"Beep-beep!" Filled with excitement, the two-dimensional figure strolled to a console near the front of the bridge. Unfortunately, not one second had passed before a tremor rocked the ship's foundation, launching several of the Smashers a few centimeters into the air. Only Lucario successfully stood its ground; all others were now on the floor, either on their buttocks or on their backs. Slowly standing back up, Sonic examined the ship's radar, only to notice a group of red dots approaching the center.
"Guys," he called out. "We've got a group of bad guys approaching us."
"I'll try to speed the ship up," Lucario responded. The Aura Pokémon quickly manipulated several vital controls to speed the vehicle up, albeit to a limited extent. Falco had previously mentioned the ability to travel at much faster speeds than normal, but this current situation would not require such an action; besides the possibility of inflicting unwarranted damage from collisions, the distance that the group needed to travel could be traversed without the use of high-speed travel. And that was despite the ship somewhat on the slow side.
"I seriously wish that this thing would move faster," Lucas shuttered.
"It can," Lucario sighed. "But now is not the appropriate time to enter high-speed travel. It could be harmful to us."
As the Great Fox attempted to flee from the center of the battlefield, Falco prepared to launch a Smart Bomb into a smaller division of hostile ships. A single button press was followed by a large explosion that inflicted noticeable damage to those unlucky enough to be targeted. The pilot felt satisfaction as he watched the damage befall his foes.
Hold on…
The lasers had not been able to deal damage, but the bombs could. To be more precise, now that the shields were deactivated by the blast's sheer force, the ships were effectively left vulnerable to attack. This would certainly be useful information for his airborne allies.
"Hey, Peppy," he chirped. "Do you have any Smart Bombs in your Arwing? They can disrupt the shields of those ships."
"I have a couple of them ready to go," the rabbit replied. "Once I get my vehicle out, I should be able to help you."
"Well, hurry up! I may need your help on this one."
"I'll be out in a second." As Peppy quickly departed from the Great Fox, Falco continued his fight against the Lords, this time by utilizing energy beams. Lasers tore through solid steel and the mechanical components that rested underneath, and bright explosions littered the sky as ships were fried.
"You have revealed our vulnerabilities," a determined Lars hissed. "But that will be of little consequence to us."
"Really? And what are you gonna do to prove your claim?"
"This."
WHOOSH! POW!
One of the ships suddenly slammed into the smaller Arwing, inflicting a momentary loss of control for the pilot of the latter. As the world transformed into a spiral of blurred imagery in his eye, a feeling of dizziness tore through Falco's head in a decisively vicious manner, one that nearly forced him to vomit his recently-eaten breakfast. Fast, falcon-like reflexes were all that saved him from being tormented any further by the most extreme forces of motion.
"Damn it," he growled. "I should've known those bastards would pull off something like that. I hope I don't get my ass busted just because of several ramming maneuvers."
"Okay, I'm out," Peppy called. His Arwing soared back into the heat of battle, this time with Slippy in the back and the rabbit himself as the pilot. While Falco proceeded to fire away at the unshielded ships, Peppy lobbed a Smart Bomb towards a smaller, shielded group, with successful results. Lasers dented darkened metal and enemy vehicles were beginning to succumb to damage. Within several minutes, some of the Lords dropped out of the sky like fiery, metallic hail. But the battle was far from over, for there were new reinforcements just summoned by Lars.
"Ah, there's more of 'em coming," Falco groaned. "Thanks for making my day better, Lars…"
"I see a couple of them attacking the ship," Peppy barked. "We'd better give the others a helping hand!"
Without replying, the avian redirected his attention towards the Great Fox, which was being harassed by a few more hostiles. Bombs and lasers continued to fly all over the Macbethian mining complex, with some of them even damaging the abandoned buildings. The larger vehicle's strong frame allowed it to resist some incoming punishment, but Falco and Peppy both knew that it was not truly indestructible; the Aparoids fiercely tearing a previous model from years past to shreds proved to be a haunting reminder of that fact.
"Time to scratch some bogeys," Falco grunted, firing away as he spoke.
"Are you ready, Game & Watch?" Lucario asked.
"Beep!"
"Then begin the firing process."
"Be-beep." One tap of a button was all that the black figure had to do before the Great Fox's cannons unleashed their raw, destructive power. The dark building's western wall suffered burn marks, hardly noticeable due to the structure's overall coloring, and significant dents in its shape. Its overall durability, however, was rather surprising for the Smashers, considering that it was composed of a blackened variant of bricks. Faint explosions were heard as the beams impacted their target.
"C'mon, can't that wall go down already?" Lucas whined, worried that the Lords might attack the ship again.
"You worry too much, don't you?" Popo sighed nonchalantly.
"I'm-"
Boom!
The psychic could speak no more, for the ship was once again rattled by an attack from the Lords themselves. But this time, the blow was accompanied by faint sounds originating from the hangar.
"Wait, did you hear something from the hangar?" Sonic mumbled.
"I don't know!" Lucas yelped, still trembling with nervousness.
"I did," Popo answered. "It sounded a lot like a low thud."
"I'll check it out." True to his word, the hedgehog dashed into the bowels of the hangar. As he descended from the higher levels, his mind was expecting the worst; if an enemy was attempting to invade the Great Fox, then there was no telling what sort of potential damage it could cause. To worsen things, his only way of defeating said enemy was a blaster that was given to him by Falco; if he lost the thing, or if it was destroyed, then he would be at a noticeable disadvantage if his teammates were not around. His speed would be the only thing that would help him escape tougher situations.
"Hopefully, the Lords aren't trying to-"
But his sentence was left forever unfinished. In full view, there was a smaller portion of the hostile fleet that had boarded the Great Fox without being assaulted or even noticed by Falco or Peppy. The hatches slowly opened with loud hisses and light steam. The hissing sounded reminiscent of a snake's signature sound, one that highlighted the serpent's intent to create hell for its victim. It was an appropriate, if not perfect, analogy; if anything, the sound was nothing but a major warning of pure danger. But it was not in the form of an actual snake, no; instead, it was in the guise of dark beings that were seeking to revive a serpent-like creature.
"Oh, great," the hedgehog groaned, speeding off while he spoke. "Now I've got to warn the others about this crap."
"Get ready to lay siege to this place," a nearby voice whispered, its tone filled with quiet malice.
"I think the wall is starting to crack," Popo commented. His statement was not very far from the truth, as the wall was cracked in several different areas and appeared to be on the verge of collapsing.
"I'll inform Falco once we complete our job," Lucario muttered.
"Hey, guys!" Sonic exclaimed. "The Lords are on this ship!"
"What?" Ness muttered, not fully comprehending the blue blur's comment.
"I said that the Lords are on this ship. They're preparing to attack to this place."
"Are you kidding me…?"
The hedgehog raised his voice to make his point clearer. His discovery was not to be brushed aside. "No, I'm not!"
CRACK!
The Smashers, save for Game & Watch, twisted their battle-ready bodies around to notice several Lords, among them Lars, standing at the now-decimated doorway. The leader exhibited a demonic aura around his hands, suggesting that he was the one responsible for smashing down the doors, and his hazel-colored eyes revealed an expression of malicious bloodlust. While the latter feature was not truly demonic in any sense, it was certainly evil enough to most of the Smashers present, being almost as dark as Ganondorf's bloodthirsty expressions. By contrast, most of Lars's followers seemed to be rather expressionless, as if they were just blindly obeying their leader without question.
"Ah, you must be the fools that are trying to destroy our base on Macbeth," Lars whispered. "I take it that you are associated with the pilot that chose to disrespect me during my offer?"
"You mean Falco?" Nana chirped. "And what offer are you talking about?"
"I gave the pilot, who I assume is "Falco", a chance to surrender without causing further bloodshed, but he decided to defy me like the insect he is. And since you are assisting him, you must die as well."
"Not if we have something to say about it," Ness spat, forming a vibrant flame in his right hand. Without hesitating, he launched his projectile at an unlucky victim, who was quickly reduced to a charred corpse. Two Lords leaped at the psychic and proceeded to pummel him before he could react, but one of them was shot by Sonic before the assault could get any worse. Meanwhile, Lars utilized the mystical power of teleportation to approach the attacking Lucario and both Ice Climbers, without being struck by an incoming attack, and then unleashed a fist-summoned earthquake. The Aura Pokémon, who had failed to stun the leader with its trusty Aura Sphere, successfully leaped into the air to avoid damage. The Ice Climbers, on the other hand, were not so lucky.
"YAH!" Popo shrieked as the shockwave toppled him over.
"Remember this, worms; all resistance will be punished severely," Lars sighed sinisterly.
Lucario rushed forward without a verbal response and delivered an Aura-fueled uppercut to the elderly man's jaw. The victim was knocked into the air for a few seconds, but he quickly regained his composure upon touching the ground; there were also minor burns on his skin, but they soon healed up while Lucario was not looking. In response, he launched three explosive spheres of darkness from his left hand, but only the last of the group made its mark. Searing dark flames engulfed Lucario's body as it was tossed backwards by the strong force. The moment was rather short, but the pain that accompanied it tricked the jackal-like creature's mind into believing that it was much longer; this was worsened due to the Pokémon's weakness to fire. Meanwhile, the Ice Climbers summoned a small blizzard into the ship, but the attack would end in failure when Lars summoned a heat-fueled shield to melt the incoming ice.
On the other side of the bridge, Ness, Lucas, and Sonic were locked in a heated battle with Lars's followers. While Sonic fired laser beams at a quick pace, the two psychics unleashed their PSI powers to defend themselves. A few distracted foes were frozen by Lucas's PK Freeze before subsequently being obliterated by PK-powered blasts. One cultist grabbed Ness by the neck and toss him at a nearby wall; for the unlucky hero of Eagleland, he was left at the complete mercy of his momentum, and when he struck the bridge's control panel, nothing could stop the resulting pain; his back received the worst treatment because of its collision with the edge. As he slowly stood back up, his eyes caught a certain blue blur rushing by to get the attention of his foes.
"You guys are too slow!" Sonic taunted. But his luck suddenly vanished when a single foe conjured a force field to stop him in an undoubtedly painful manner.
"Oh boy, Sonic," Ness sighed. "You really should stop getting so cocky at times." Retrieving his trusty baseball bat from his backpack, he cracked the skull of one foe before incinerating him. As assistance to the black-haired PSI user, Lucas guided an electrical projectile into himself.
BOOM!
"What-" a robed figure muttered, but it was already too late for her to react. The explosive impact of PK Thunder Two suddenly sliced her body in half and caused a large amount of gore to splatter all over a shield conjured by two other cultists. Said hostiles quickly dropped their defense when the attack was completed, only to send the psychic flying away with a fiery explosion.
As Lars continued to attack the Ice Climbers and Lucario, he was caught off-guard when the latter opponent utilized Double Team, a special attack useful for defense, to counter a fast-flying fist. For a split second, the Pokémon was entirely out of clear view, almost as if it had suddenly faded from existence; the captain was frozen with confusion as he attempted to search for his aggressor, with no luck by his side. But then, a short, near-inaudible whisper rang throughout the air, followed by Lucario reappearing to deliver a package of pain. The malevolent man tumbled backwards a good distance before stopping right next to the bridge's front monitor.
"Such trickery by your side…" he grunted. "But that will not change the outcome of this battle. You will still lose."
"We'll see about that," Lucario replied, firing a partially-charged Aura Sphere in the process. Secondary projectiles, smaller icicles to be specific, were summoned by the Ice Climbers by assist in the attack. As expected for one with surprisingly sharp reflexes, Lars deflected them with a reflective energy field before conjuring a glowing spear in his hands. The weapon was launched at ridiculous speeds, but was evaded by the much-faster Extreme Speed. While Lucario was reduced to a bright blue blur, Popo clocked the man in the head before freezing his legs with a miniature blast of ice. One swing of a hammer later, the pale ice was shattered, taking Lars's legs with it. Blackened blood gushed out of the wounds at an exhilarating rate to form a sick-looking puddle on the ship's cold, steel-plated floor, one that would cause any lesser being to immediately vomit.
"Are you ready to give up now?" Popo mocked. If he could freeze the rest of the captain's body, then an easy victory would be inevitable...
"Getting overconfident, aren't we?" Lars retaliated as black ooze began to form around what remained of the severed limbs.
"What the…" Popo could not finish his sentence due to the high shock factor of what he was witnessing. The black substance slowly manifested itself into the shape of legs, exactly in the shape of what was attached to the captain's body before the forced removal, and solidified within a few seconds. All three opposing fighters tried to consider what had just happened; given Lillian's statements, Återuppliva could not be responsible for this disturbing feature of magic… or could it?
"How are you doing that?" Lucario spat, its mind paralyzed with confusion. Never had it encountered a human, let alone a being enhanced with Återuppliva, with such an ability. Something far stronger was in effect, and the only way to solve the mystery was to determine the object or substance inducing this mighty force.
"That is none of your concern," Lars snarled. "The only thing that matters is your death.
"Beep! Beep!" Game & Watch cried, now informing the others about the crumbling wall in front of him.
"What?" Nana muttered. Leaving Lucario and Popo to battle the captain, she rushed over to the two-dimensional being's location, interested in what he was about to reveal.
"Beep." The figure pointed towards the wall ahead of the Great Fox. It was now reduced to a collapsed pile of rubble lying within the interior of the building, a mere pile of fragmented blackness to be more exact. The shape of the hole was generally irregular, not resembling any standard shape known to nearly all civilizations, and was surrounded by long-reaching cracks. This would certainly serve as beneficial news to Falco, who was still battling enemy ships outside.
"Alright, we need to tell Falco about this so that he can get inside."
Falco's Arwing was starting to run low on Smart Bombs, as was Peppy's. A chilling feeling of doom crept into the ace pilot's body, overwhelming his usual arrogance in the process; with the bomb supply on the verge of being depleted, it would only be a matter of time before he and the other two Star Fox veterans were annihilated by the Lords, either by laser, physical strike, or, worse still, a missile; for the lattermost threat, Peppy was previously pursued by one before it was wiped out. However, Falco was not ready to surrender. Given his typically cocky attitude, he was usually one of the more aggressive fighters, whether in dogfights or in Smash battles, and would usually battle it out until the bitter end.
This situation would be no different.
"Hey, Falco," Nana's voice suddenly rang, thrusting him outside the confines of his mind. "We've gotten the wall down, so you can get inside now."
"Finally," Falco grunted. "Thanks for the assistance. I'm heading inside right now. Tell Peppy to stay near the Great Fox, just in case some of those jackasses try to cause you guys any trouble."
"Actually, things are very hectic inside the ship right now. Sonic found out that a few of the Lords managed to sneak inside while you and Peppy were busy. They've busted into the bridge and are now trying to kill us all. We're fighting them off, but I'm afraid that they might overpower us before you finish up with your search. What do you want us to do?"
Great, just great. Now they were causing havoc within the ship as well. To top it all off, Nana's last sentence raised an interesting yet alarming reason for concern; as the full strength of the Lords was still not known, it was indeed possible that the Smashers could face a bloody end despite possessing the tools required to combat their foes. He could simply return to the Great Fox to help, but doing so would delay his search, if not getting himself killed outright. No, the search held higher priority right now. Making the search quick would be adequate, at least to his knowledge…
"Just hold them off. Also, make absolutely that Peppy does NOT enter the ship; otherwise, he and Slippy are going to get slaughtered. Do you hear me?"
"Okay."
His eyes locked on the newly-forged hole, Falco carefully guided his Arwing inside the building to initiate his search. During this time, Peppy noticed his friend departing from the massive battle.
"Hey, Falco," he gasped. "Where are you going?"
"I'm heading inside the base to search for anything interesting. If I'm lucky enough, I might be able to find Krystal and Marcus… and the exact production area of the city-wiping bomb."
"Be careful, Falco!" Slippy squeaked, worried for the pilot's safety.
A faint explosion from outside forced his senses into full alert, in stark contrast to the general state of his tired body. Applying pressure against the cold, metallic floor, his sore muscles were strained as they tried to force his body up into a sitting position. The sensation that accompanied the action was burning and, in an obvious sense, uncomfortable. His vision was blurry for an unspecified amount of time, perhaps long seconds or even minutes. It was not all at surprising; he had been stuck within this cell for days, and the fact that the room was entirely isolated from the day-night cycle's visuals only worsened his perception of time. Only when he was freed from this nightmare would it be ever restored.
Boom…!
"What's happening outside…?" he groaned in a high-pitched voice. As he leaned his head against a wall, his sharp ears detected more explosions, some of them louder than the first one. Something was going on for certain, but what…
"What are you doing, Marcus?" a nearby vixen asked. Like Fox, her husband, she was a member of the vulpine family, albeit with a more unique appearance. For one thing, her fur was marked by distinct areas of white and blue, not reddish brown and white, and the borders between colors were more clearly defined in character. Furthermore, there was what appeared to be a tiara-like object crossing through the middle of her forehead; the object in question was decorated a light blue gem that only slightly clashed with her fur. Her eyes were a gentle green, while her skin-tight uniform was tinted with varying shades of blue, with one tone resembling her fur color. The uniform was beaten, most likely due to wear and tear from an earlier event.
"Mom, I'm hearing something nearby," the cub, Marcus McCloud, answered. His youthful appearance was an interest mixture of traits. While he mostly resembled his adventure-loving father in a variety of ways, his fur color was nothing short of identical to his mother's.
"I think the sound is just your imagination playing tricks on you. You need to-"
The cub was not convinced by his mother's unfinished statement. "I'm being honest with you. Just press your head against the wall and listen."
Not willing to argue with her son, the vixen, Krystal McCloud, simply obeyed the order. As her perceptive ears were forced against the warmth-deprived wall, a strong chill crept its way into her skin, which was submerged by vividly-colored fur. Powerful as it was, however, it failed to deter her from remaining glued in place. The silence that was present in the air also manifested itself within the frame of the dark, mechanical building, and it was not a serene sort of silence. Instead, it was the kind of silence filled with overtones of creeping terror and haunting darkness, one that would leave especially unprepared persons immobilized with absolute fear. But Krystal was no stranger to fear, whether it was in the form of Aparoids, the Anglar, or even the dreaded General Scales and his vicious army. There was no reason to be nervous from this potentially harmless silence, right?
"Do you hear anything?" Marcus questioned.
The mother could not detect anything audible within the walls and, unsurprisingly, responded in a manner that provoked feelings of disappointment and annoyance within the cub. "There's nothing to be heard, son. Maybe the source of the noise is gone, or it could just be non-existent."
"C'mon, Mom, I'm pretty heard I've heard something, like a loud explosion or something like that."
"Well, I believe that you're just making the noise up…"
Boom…!
The vixen's ears quickly shot upwards upon hearing the sudden sound. Maybe Marcus was telling the truth after all. "Wait a minute, what was that?"
"That's the sound that I just heard. Do you believe me now?"
Boom…!
"Okay," Krystal muttered. "I hear the sound now. But, now that I have heard it, I wonder what's producing it?"
Away from the intense action of the battle, Falco Lombardi was once again encased by the base's mechanical environment. Passing through an unlocked door, stone and steel were all that he noticed, whether in the form of pipes, doors, the floor, or anything similar. His blaster was set to kill, not like the Smash competitions where it merely stunned opponents with slight shocks. But this adventure was no game, instead being a very real situation where death was a surefire possibility.
"I bet there are no surprises here," he sighed in his usual sarcastic tone. Ascending a flight of stairs, he encountered what was most likely a barrack for some of the cultists, given that there were resting places, along with other things that would belong to a personal room. As Falco aimed the flashlight on his blaster left and right, nothing interesting appeared to present itself in any way, shape, or form. There were a few reinforced boxes nearby, but all of them had been sealed tight to prevent theft. The only thing left to do was to continue his ascent.
And ascend he did. Another staircase was crossed and he was now on the third floor, but what came afterwards was not a room. It was a narrow, dimly-lit hallway with only a single door on the other side. By now, a deeper hum not produced by the overhead pipes was audible to the pilot's ears; judging by its origin, the sound was coming from the next room.
"I wonder what's up ahead…" Falco could not resist uttering those words, with curiosity gradually getting the better of him. His steps were deliberately slow while he was approaching the steel-forged door, and his mind was somehow forgetting that he was supposed to quickly finish the search, preferably before his teammates were brutally slaughtered. He eventually reached the door and gently pushed it open.
What he encountered was something that delivered pure shock and awe.
"Oh, boy, the Lords must be really sick fools," he quietly puffed. In front of the avian pilot was a two-story, factory-like environment designed for producing weapons, powerful explosives to be more exact. Darkened, constantly active conveyor belts were home to high-power bombs; when considering the appearance of the explosives, they were likely designed for use by vehicles. Next to the overall structure was an assortment of weapon parts, but only a small portion of these pieces seemed to possess any obvious compatibility with the bombs. Speaking of which, several checkpoints were scattered across the belts, and their sole purpose was to add additional parts to the incoming bombs; they were recognizable by silver-colored shafts with transparent tubes containing the essential parts for construction. At the end of each belt was a box that would serve as containers to be shipped out of the base and possibly into other realms.
As for the architecture, the ceiling was reminiscent of a dome that extended into the skies above, being stylistically akin to what could be witnessed in a basilica. Painted on it was a morbid-looking picture of a black-skinned, red-eyed snake surround by what appeared to be golden orbs. A dark green background provided the backdrop for the rather insidious picture, in addition. Five windows dotted the very bottom in a manner that provided perfect alignment with the orbs, nearly to the point where straight lines could be drawn to connect the two groups. The next floor above was clearly visible, but its contents were about the same as the level that Falco was glued to. Silver-colored rails were in place to prevent accidental falls. As a final generalization, this place was like a black rose; machines aside, its architecture was filled with potential beauty, but it was also overshadowed by an evil aura.
But the one thing that truly captured the pilot's attention was a glowing, water-colored orb at the very center of the room. The mysterious object was suspended by a monstrous-looking claw emerging from the platform below, and an energy shield surrounded it to prevent damage, intentional or otherwise. The intensity of the glow almost rivaled Solar's luminosity; indeed, Falco had to partly shield his eyes to reduce the chances of him going blind.
"Is that…" Falco started, but he immediately trailed off as he remembered an earlier comment from Slippy…
"Wait, where was that interference coming from?"
"No idea. But anyway, Peppy wanted me to find its source as soon as possible. I was about to put my engineering skills to the test when I noticed a faint blue sphere soaring across the sky at Arwing-level speeds; seriously, it was real fast."
This was it.
This was the same type of bomb that vaporized Corneria City. He had to inform his teammates, and possibly Lillian, about this, preferably within the next couple of seconds. Adjusting the frequency on his headset while simultaneously preparing for a mental linkup, Falco proceeded to open two communication channels with two different recipients.
Peppy could feel the cold sweat dampening his fur; now that his vehicle was depleted of Smart Bombs, there was no feasible way to defeat the Lords without being destroyed himself. Worse yet, retreating to the Great Fox was not a viable option, as Nana was so quick to point out. The only option available was to hold out until Falco returned.
"Oh, crap," Slippy whined. His body was now in full panic as he realized the slim chances of survivability. "We're screwed, Peppy! They're gonna get us for sure!"
"Will you get a grip?!" the general furiously grumbled. But he was unable to continue when a friendly voice zipped through the Arwing's speakers.
"Hey, Peppy," Falco announced, "I've find a bomb that looks identical to the one that incinerated the city."
"You did? Where is it at?"
Inside the base…
Falco stretched the microphone away from his mouth before whispering to Lillian. "Lillian, you need to hear this too."
"I'm listening," the maiden responded. Her voice was filled with a tone of curiosity, and although her facial expressions were never observed, the pilot assumed that her face was in synchronization with the emotion in her spoken words.
"It's inside a weapon-manufacturing area. This must be the place where the earlier thing was produced, and if I am correct, the Lords plan on making more of them."
"Are you serious?" Peppy's voice struck the pilot as undeniably concerned, and this was a rare occurrence, for the general was normally calm and collected, even in the most dangerous scenarios. However, he was not the only one who displayed emotion shock.
"Oh, no… It's just as I feared…"
"Wait a second," it was now Falco's turn to speak. "You what?"
"During the earlier part of my land's struggle with the Lords, several of our forces reported witnessing powerful explosives devastating large patches of land. Further research revealed that the enemies had developed a new kind of bomb called the "Blå Eldklot". We had hoped to prevent the bombs from exiting our home realm, but it appears that it's already too late…"
Falco slowly cracked his knuckles. Something had to be done about the bomb, or more innocents would perish. "Alright, so what do you want me to do with the one in front of me?"
"You must destroy it. If you can inflict enough damage, it should go into a self-destruct sequence, but make sure that you and your allies get out of range before it detonates. At most, you will have five minutes."
"Gotcha, but I'm gonna take care of one thing before I do. I need to find Fox's family in the base."
"Be careful, Falco." After concluding the telepathic conversation, he redirected his attention towards his longtime ally and friend. Since the general had no mental connection to the innocent maiden, Falco would have to address his plans personally.
"Peppy, I'm gonna find Krystal and Marcus, then I will destroy the bomb inside. I'll let you know when I'm about to inflict some damage to it."
The general coughed before offering his comment. "Okay, but try not to kill yourself in the process!"
"Huh…" The pilot merely scoffed at the last part of the sentence before severing all communications. Leaping to a door on the opposite side of the room, he continued his search into a rather large dining room. The middle of the room was home to an elongated table composed of pale-colored wood, with golden chairs surrounding it from all sides; admittedly, it was an elegant addition to the ominous atmosphere of the room. Bright candles were mounted on the walls, but none of them were illuminated right now. Due to the lack of windows, the only light source was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, but it was insufficient in delivering, at minimum, an average level of visibility. But even so, the environment was not pitch-black. Nothing interesting was visible, so Falco had to depart for the next room, which was a hallway branching into two paths.
"Okay, where to go…" he whispered to himself. As his eyes clicked back and forth, he realized that one of the doors, the one on the left, appeared to have a set of two buttons on its right side. Closer examination revealed that the upper button had an arrow pointing up, while the lower one possessed a downward version of the same symbol. This was perhaps an elevator to the other floors. Falco jabbed a finger into the down arrow, but the button did not illuminate, nor did the motors of the elevator activate. Consecutive attempts failed to produce any results.
"What's up with this stupid thing?" the pilot grunted in both confusion and frustration. But it was not long until he realized one important thing; the elevator was powered down. In attempting to return to the intersection, however, something else presented itself to him. He suddenly noticed a small, square-shaped hole to the left of the door with a yellowish interior. The inside of it was marked by four circular dents, one for each side except for the front. This hole was most likely a key slot of sorts, but there was no evidence to prove the pilot's belief due to a lack of an appropriate key. Maybe there could be one in the other pathway…
"I hope I can find the key in the other path," Falco sighed. Jogging down the right-handed path, he entered a clean kitchen filled with sinks, silverware, cutting tables, metallic stoves, and other kitchen-related objects. A wooden table was also present at the far side of the area, right next to a door that presumably lead into the pantry. All the doors, sans the one used earlier, were locked, limiting Falco's options regarding the exploration of this area, but after searching the lonely table, the pheasant encounter an object that appeared to have some useful value.
"What's this?" Falco eyed the object in a curious manner as it was removed from its resting spot. What he was now holding in his hands was a set of tan cubes attached to a ring via small, silver chains; the cubes were recognizable by bumps placed on four of their faces, which did not include the top or bottom, along with unique colors assigned to them. One of the six cubes possessed yellow-tinted bumps, which coincidentally matched with what was witnessed on the elevator's square hole.
"Let's see what happens when I place this cube into the hole…"
BLAM!
"Damn!" Peppy grunted. The environment's colors were now mere blurs as his vehicle lost control. "The jets have taken serious damage! We're going down!"
By now, Slippy was nearing the point to where he would be completely insane from the ongoing chaos. His voice was wailing uncontrollably and his body was experiencing erratic motions provoked by panic, which was exacerbated by the Arwing's own shaking as it plummeted from the sky. Sweat soaked his slippery skin about a hundred times over; his breathing was loud and unnaturally short, and worse yet, his heart felt like it was about to burst into a bloody mess. Death was dangerously close to him, more so than during the Lylat Wars or any encounter with a threatening force. In his mind, he was going to perish for sure.
THUD! THUD! THUD! SCCRRRRRrrrrrr…
Both Cornerians were launched towards the windows at breakneck speeds as the Arwing rolled into the Great Fox's hangar.
By now, most of the Lords had been exterminated despite their best efforts; only Lars and a few others remained.
"Give it up, buddy," Sonic taunted. "You're losing this battle."
"You might think that, hedgehog," Lars hissed. "But I must warn you; I am not to be underestimated."
"And what makes you think-"
ZAP!
The captain interrupted Sonic's statement by firing a violet-tinted beam at him. The speedy hedgehog was agile enough to avoid the blow, but a nearby Lucas was nowhere near as lucky, suffering the full force of harmful magic. Electricity tore through his body with overwhelming power and essentially left him paralyzed, much to the delight of Lars's subordinates. As they swarmed around the psychic for the kill, they brandished their forms of offensive power to butcher his helpless form, but some of them were soon sidetracked by Sonic's absurd speed and Lucario's Aura Spheres. Nevertheless, one cultist successfully approached Lucas and proceeded to slash and stab him several times.
"HELP!" the poor brother of Claus screamed as mortifying pain overloaded his nerves. Seconds passed as this event unraveled, but agony had caused the tortured mind to perceive it as a long minute of Hell. It was only towards the end of that moment that Ness finally incinerated the cruel aggressor.
"Geez, you look horrible," the courageous PSI user moaned as he examined his best friend's major injuries. Deep cuts and hideous stab wounds were littered across the fair skin to soak the clothing over it with a copious amount of warm blood, a sight that could make those with weak constitutions uncomfortable, and some of them even appeared to be very close to major internal organs. Blood was also emerging from the mouth.
"I feel… horrible," Lucas wheezed as he struggled to sit up. His injuries flared up in less than a second, forcing him to rely on Ness for help.
"Whoa, don't push yourself too hard. You might make your injuries worse."
Mister Game & Watch, who was now participating in the battle, ignited his torch and smacked Lars in the back of the head with it; the resulting injury ignited the captain for a good ten seconds, but his quick reflexes and advanced healing abilities quickly nullified any permanent consequences of the attack. A quick swing of a pan resulted in a miss, giving the villainous opponent an opportunity to launch and incapacitate the two-dimensional figure to the other side of the room with his bare fists. He then inflicted cuts onto the Ice Climbers and Lucario via spinning, razor-sharp disks that bounced in erratic patterns across the bridge. Sonic unleashed his signature Homing Attack to stun Lars momentarily, but the captain quickly recovered from the blow and knocked the blaster out of Sonic's hands.
"You've destroyed the last of my squad," the mysterious elder growled, realizing that Ness and Lucario had wiped out the remainder of the Lords. "You will dearly pay for your belligerent actions."
"I have something to say about that," Lucario responded. Grabbing its enemy by the arm, the Aura Pokémon launched a close-ranged Aura Sphere strengthened by its user's injuries to penetrate a gore-ridden hole into the man's aged body. Black blood sprayed onto the wall behind the duo, nearly soaking some of the bridge's equipment in the process. Nana cringed horribly as the violent attack unraveled.
"That pathetic attack… will not kill me," Lars coughed, suffering slight recoil from the blow. Through the power of superior healing, his internal organs underwent the process of self-repair. Meanwhile, the skin cells of the affected area began to multiply at an extreme rate to restore integrity.
"This is some serious crap," Sonic moaned as he fired several shots from his now-retrieved blaster at Lars's neck. While the resulting attack was enough to cause decapitation, the head quickly reattached itself to the body by strange, unseen forces. By now, most of the Smashers began to realize that Lars was likely unstoppable and could kill his opponents before they could defeat him. They could not delve any further into thought, however, when two familiar figures emerged from the busted doorway.
"Hey," Peppy called, "Are you guys alright?"
"What?" Nana gasped. She did not want the two pilots to be caught in the crossfire. "I thought Falco told you guys to stay out of this ship!"
Peppy forced Slippy behind him before offering an explanation. "Sorry, but our vehicle was shot down by the bogeys. We also can't just stay out in the open because that would get us fried by laser beams."
"Just go find some place to hide…"
"Will do." The general quickly escorted the engineer into another part of the ship. The Smashers were forced to provide protection from the malevolent captain, who recognized the duo as new enemies. Sonic rushed in for a Homing Attack, but while he successfully stunned Lars with the move, he was thrown into one of the bridge's front windows.
Falco was now inside the dry basement due to his usage of the cubes, or keys, from before. The air around him was now utterly foul, which was in stark contrast to the rest of the structure. Previously, there was no scent entering his nostrils. Additionally, the lighting was much darker, now being very close to the point of absolute blackness. Footsteps echoed across the long hallway as sound waves were reflected, mixing in with the low humming of pipes to create a simple orchestra of ambient noises.
"Hope I can get to them in time," Falco muttered under his breath, pacing at a moderately fast tempo.
"Wait, I hear someone…" a distant, unrecognizable voice whispered.
"Someone's here. Could it be...? Oh, no way."
On the other side of the hall, Marcus had managed to overhear the pilot's sounds and was now in the process of alerting his mother.
"Are you sure?" Krystal muttered, doubtful of her child's claim.
"Someone's coming to the prison; I'm certain of it. Mom, you have to believe me."
Tap… Tap… Tap…
"Okay, now I can hear it. But I don't know if the person is a savior or one of the robed figures that we've seen earlier…"
Falco was now surrounded by dull, rusty prison cells on both sides of him. Most of them were vacant, currently untouched by any being, living or deceased, but some of them were occupied by skeletons chained to the wall for an unknown amount of time. Such a sight would disturb any ordinary person, but the brash and arrogant pilot had developed a resistance to most sorts of fears; he believed himself to be completely over them, honestly. A gradual right turn led him into another set of cells, this one not much different from the last. The voices nearby were the only things that changed with distance; not only were they louder, but they possessed much greater clarity to where Falco could recognize the speakers.
"So, Krystal and Marcus are stuck in this decaying dump," he sighed. "I'd better get them out of here."
"Don't get your hopes up," Krystal whispered. "It could be just-"
Her sentence was unfinished as Falco stopped right in front of the family's prison cell. Marcus, due to the area's darkness, could not recognize him at first.
"Daddy?" he mumbled. "Is that you? Please get us out of here!"
"Kid, I ain't your father," the pheasant replied, shoving a key into the cell door's lock. "But I am a close friend of his, if you know what I'm saying. Now then, get ready to leave this place for good; I doubt that you and your mother would want to be trapped here forever."
"You're… You're Falco, right?"
"Yeah, I am. Your father's not here right now, but you'll get to see him soon enough."
"Thank you, Falco," Krystal interjected. "I was worried that we might never leave this place."
"It's my pleasure, Krystal. Now, I must go destroy something that's in this base before we leave."
Guiding the family to the Arwing, which was still parked next to the hole, Falco ordered both foxes to remain in place before speeding off to the bomb factory. During this time, he attempted to contact Peppy about his current objective, but he was only greeted with silence.
"Damn it," Falco snarled. "What's taking you so long to answer?" After several failed attempts to establish communications with the general, it became quite clear that Peppy was not going to be able to respond in time before he reached his destination. Frustrated, he switched his headset to a frequency that was linked to the Great Fox.
"Can anyone hear me?" he called. "This is Falco. How are you guys doing?"
"Not very good," Popo sighed. "Lucas is badly hurt by one the Lords, and there's this leader guy that's tearing us a new one. He just knocked out Game & Watch with one throw and is now beating the crap out of Sonic and Lucario. It'd be really nice if you can take care of the problem now."
"Leader? You mean Lars? I would really like an explanation for him being able to enter the Great Fox without any sort of detection."
"That doesn't matter, Falco. Could you please, please hurry up?"
"Okay, I need to destroy the bomb that's in the base first, and by that, I mean the same type of bomb that vaporized the city. Be prepared to haul ass when I inflict enough damage to it."
By now, Falco was back inside the manufacturing wing and was ready to decimate the device of absolute destruction. Drawing his blaster and setting its firing mode to concentrated bursts, he was soon inflicting heavy damage. Shot after vicious shot, the panel controlling the shield was destroyed, leaving the bomb itself vulnerable to severe punishment. After a minute fell into history, the blueish coloring of the weapon gradually faded away and was replaced with a dark red tint, signifying near-collapse. Cracks expanded across the transparent surface, with rays of light shining out of them. Electrical sparks surrounded the wounded device; it was perhaps from the blaster's shots, but it would not be at all surprising to assume that it was from the bomb itself. Of course, the brash pilot was not in the mood to care.
"Just a bit more," he grunted. With two final shots, the powerful weapon was forced into a slow self-destruct sequence marked by heavy shaking and a growing light from the very center. Surely, they were ominous signs of the incoming destruction of this building and the area around it.
"Time to get out of here." With quick feet, he rushed back to his Arwing to escort Fox's family into the Great Fox.
The situation was bitterly grim for the rest of the Smashers. Besides the obvious scenario regarding Lucas, Game & Watch was still unconscious from the earlier throw by Lars, while Lucario and Sonic were covered in deep cuts and significant burns; the latter two were also on the brink of collapsing from their accumulated injuries, no thanks to Lars. And if that was not enough, the black ships were still pounding the Great Fox with their dangerously powerful weapons. Now, the Ice Climbers were all that stood between the group and total defeat; Ness was too busy carrying Lucas to the ship's medical wing.
"How are we gonna take down this guy?" Popo asked.
"How should I know?" Nana whimpered, now fearing for her life. "This guy's been resisting everything thrown at him and now the others can't help us. Well, maybe Lucario can, but that's not my point. Thing is, we're going to die here if something doesn't happen soon!"
"You are correct, child," Lars puffed. "There shall be no escape from the clutches of death when you provoke the wrath of the Svärtad Orm's servants. Now, it is time for you to-"
"Not so fast, buddy," a familiar voice echoed from not too far away. "I think you and I have some business to take care of." All the remaining combatants twisted their heads to notice Falco standing by the doorway with a cocky smirk on his face. His blaster was out and ready to blow holes into an enemy. In this case, that foe was Lars.
"So, you must Falco," the captain whispered. "I should have known that you would arrive here to confront me personally."
"Can it, big shot. You know, it would have been better if I'd kicked your ass during the dogfight, but since I'm out of Smart Bombs, I guess I have to deal with you in person."
Lars quickly tossed a disk to shed blood, but the pilot countered the attack with his reflector; the result was a black, soaked arm severed from the rest of the captain's body. This was followed by a well-timed Falco Phantasm that hoisted the victim into the air, granting the attacker an opportunity to fire several charged shots from his blaster. The other Smashers could only stare as each shot caused a limb to explode in a burst of electricity and carnage, with a mess slowly forming on the bridge's steel floor. Lars simply could not react in time to avoid having his body dismembered by the fast attacks.
"Alright, Lars," Falco chirped, firing one last shot directed at the head. "You're finished for good." The end of his statement coincided with Lars's head being destroyed by the spectacular explosion, made even larger when combined with a full-power Aura Sphere from Lucario.
"I'm glad that's over, for now…" Sonic croaked. Following orders from Falco, the Ice Climbers disposed of the bodies by tossing them from the hangar bay; some of the Smashers noticed both Eskimos cringing severely as black blood stained their uniforms with smears of blackness. Falco himself assumed the responsibilities of a pilot and proceeded to guide the Great Fox out of Macbeth. As he did so, the hangar doors gradually began to close with a low hum. Meanwhile, the thrusters slowly approached full power, with a light blue glow as an indication of their increasing strength. Meanwhile, some of the enemy ships were about to pursue the larger, much faster vehicle, but all of them froze in place when a few of the pilots noticed Lars's body, among others, being tossed into the ground.
"Is that… Captain Isberg?" one of the Lords slowly muttered. "Someone needs to go and pick him up immediately."
"What about the enemy ship?" another pilot asked.
"We'll send out a squad to take care of that. Right now, we need to-"
The crippled bomb, at that point, finally overloaded and soon unleashed an explosion with the power of a thousand suns, vaporizing anything that was unlucky enough to be captured by the intense heat wave…
"Is it me, or is this placing shaking out of control?" Sonic yelped. The extreme force of the explosion had crept into the air at speeds faster than what the ship could provide, quickly rattling the Smashers like mere ragdolls. The Ice Climbers, who had returned from the hangar, braced themselves by clinging on to a few leather-coated chairs. Lucario and Sonic were swept off their feet, their injured bodies unable to react in time. Mister Game & Watch was suddenly awakened by the heavy vibrating, his body scrambling to rediscover its composure. The rumbling came to a gradual halt only when a few seconds had come to pass.
"That was the bomb, am I correct?" Lucario asked curiously.
"Yeah," Falco admitted slowly. "Now that we got the base out of the way, we can finally head to Venom."
"I bet the Lords are going to be pissed when they see their base in ruins," Sonic coughed. While his injuries were less severe compared to what Lucas was cursed with, he was still burdened with unbelievably serious pain. Furthermore, he was bleeding at a rate that could potentially kill him within the next few hours.
"True, but we shouldn't expect any problems for a while. How's Lucas?"
"He and Ness are in the medical wing right now. Speaking of which, I need to go there as well; I've got cuts and bruises that I need to take care of."
The beaten hedgehog slowly limped out of the bridge, leaving behind a small trail of blood as he did. Lucario followed suit, albeit with a visibly faster pace of walking. At the same time, Krystal entered the area, noticing the injured blue duo strolling by in the process.
"Falco?" she asked. Ever since her capture, she had been left in the dark about the Lords and their plan to bring ruin upon every known realm in existence, so asking Falco about the recent events was the only immediate remedy available. "Can you explain to me what's going on here in Lylat?"
"Of course," Falco replied, keeping his eyes on the intended path. "It may sound complicated at first, but you'll understand soon enough."
I have never expected the Orm's Lords to be difficult foes to deal with. I should have expected this when we started our adventure, but their strength is unlike anything I have ever witnessed. Not since the Subspace incident or my adventures in Sinnoh have I been exposed to danger of such an extreme magnitude. I can only pray to Arceus that everything will be alright in the end.
Also, I have recently noticed something else. Lillian did not warn us of Återuppliva, the ships, the bomb, or anything that the Lords might have had in their possession, prior to us leaving the Smash Mansion. Was she not expecting us to encounter such dangers? Or is she deliberately trying to hide vital information from us, and if so, for what reason? For now, I do not know what to believe…
-Lucario
Now that all the preliminaries are out of the way, Falco and his group can now head to the toxic planet of Venom. (Woot!) And, this took me a longer time to work on than I had expected due to rigorous classwork as well as an ongoing illness.
A/N:
-Unlike Agnetha, I didn't rely on the names of well-known Swedish people to come up with Lars's name. I made a search to find Swedish names that I could probably use for naming the next captain to be presented. After a while, I eventually settled on the name that you'll be seeing in the story from now on.
-"Blå Eldklot"="Blue Fireball"